Patent · US Expired

Polarized interferential measurement wherein the modulation signal is adjusted to be equal to the duration of the measurement window

US6239877A · kind A · utility

5Cited by
5References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJan 26, 1999
Grant dateMay 29, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 26, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/45
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The invention is an interferential refractometry method and device using fine measurement of the displacement of the fringes of an interference pattern between two light beams with one of the beams undergoing phase variations due to variations in the refractive index thereof. The method comprises application, to one of the two beams, of a relatively fast periodic phase modulation by a modulating signal. Displacement of the fringes resulting from the combined application of the two modulations is picked up by a photodetector and a measuring system evaluates the slow modulation by determining the frequency spectrum of the signal coming from the detect or and measuring the phase shift affecting the fundamental frequency of this frequency spectrum. The method may be applied to detection of variations in the composition of mixtures, for example in analytical or preparative chromatography.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.